| 释义 |
joker|ˈdʒəʊkə(r)|
[f. joke v. + -er1.]
1. One who jokes; a jester; a merry fellow. Freq. in practical joker.
1729T. Cooke Tales, Proposals, etc. 118 St. Patrick's Dean, of holy Men the Pest, A scurril Joker, and of all the Jest. 1807–8Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 164/1 Thou shalt be laid low by a joker of jokes, and he shall talk his pleasant talk against thee. 1830G. Colman Random Rec. II. vi. 205 It convinced me that he was no practical joker. 1879McCarthy Own Times II. xviii. 12 The temptation to schoolboys and practical jokers of all kinds was irresistible. 1887Spectator 9 Apr. 491/2 Some confirmed jokers,—verbal contortionists. 1899Beerbohm More 70 Scores of licensed practical jokers. 1926A. Conan Doyle Hist. Spiritualism I. vii. 153 The contemptible crew of practical jokers and ill-natured researchers who visited her found her a ready victim. 1950T. S. Eliot Cocktail Party ii. 104 Are you a devil Or merely a lunatic practical joker?
2. slang. Man, ‘fellow’, ‘chap’. Also transf. to animals (esp. Austral. and N.Z.).
1811Sporting Mag. XXXVIII. 50 Six jokers on horse⁓back were standing stock still. 1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. xli, You were another sort of a joker, in those days, you were! 1868Auckland Punch No. 2. 7/1 If Louis Napoleon could be prevailed on to bring over his Zouaves, and join the mounted marines, together with some Indian jokers. 1888J. D. Wickham Ramblings xv. 92 The driver of this coach was the joker that wanted to charge me a shilling. 1891C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 136 We spotted some very fine turkeys, and my hungry companion said at once, ‘There is a good feed for two men on one of those jokers’. 1894Times 14 Feb. 3/2 We managed to get the sick joker out of his bunk, but we could not get him aft. 1895[see best a. 5 b]. 1941Coast to Coast 197 We'd get tired of tramping around the mines listening to well-fed jokers say ‘No’. 1949[see clean v. 6 b]. 1951Landfall V. 21 There are about a dozen brush in the place and about three times as many jokers. 1963Australasian Post 14 Mar. 51/2 Mr Dingleton turned out to be a tall, rather thin, pleasant-looking joker with big feet. 1970N.Z. Listener 12 Oct. 13/5 Their benevolent guff's even harder for a decent-spirited joker to accept.
3. a. Something used in playing a trick.
1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf-t. ii. (1883) 30 The thimble-rigger's ‘little joker’. 1895Rev. of Rev. Jan. (Farmer), These little jokers were attached to the left thumbs of certain judges of election as the ballots were being counted. These jokers are made of rubber and have a cross on them.
b. An odd card in a pack, either left blank or ornamented with some design, used in some games, counting always as a trump and sometimes as the highest trump. Also in fig. phr. joker in the pack: a person whose behaviour is unexpected or unpredictable.
1885J. B. Greenough Queen of Hearts iii. (Cent.), The White Knight, called the Joker, otherwise the Best Bower. 1894St. James's Gaz. 19 July (Farmer), The game of poker is played with a pack of fifty-three cards, the fifty-third card being called the joker... American manufacturers of playing⁓cards are wont to include a blank card at the top of the pack; and it is, alas! true that some thrifty person suggested that the card should not be wasted. This was the origin of the joker. 1894Maskelyne Sharps & Flats 223 In euchre you can hold the joker every time. 1963Times 25 Feb. (Canada Suppl.) p. ii/2 Mr. Caouette is a joker in the pack; his group's tally of 26 federal seats reflects a morbid situation. 1973G. Sims Hunters Point vi. 47 Fred Wheeler may be the joker in the pack. He might have got Dave involved in something wild. 1974Times 9 May 4/1 Although the Government has a majority of four votes over the Conservatives, there are 37 ‘jokers in the pack’.
4. A clause unobtrusively inserted in a legislative enactment and affecting its operation in a way not immediately apparent. Also transf. of a clause, etc., in a contract, administrative order, etc., which frustrates its intention or puts one of the parties at a disadvantage; fig., a drawback, a ‘snag’, a trick. U.S.
1904N.Y. Even. Post 11 May 1 They are all nervous over the possibility that there may be a hitherto unperceived joker in the present bill. 1906Ibid. 30 Apr. 6 The Malby ‘joker’ to the Adirondack Reserve bill. 1914S. H. Adams Clarion 241 Even her simple mind grasped the joker in the contract. 1928Daily Express 17 July 8/2 The surtax was slipped into the Finance Act of 1927 very much as a ‘joker’ is occasionally insinuated into an American Tariff Act—that is to say, surreptitiously, without anybody except those in the know being aware of the significance of what was happening. 1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 65/1 Joker (nigger in the wood pile), laws, investigations, vice abatements, controversies, political appointments, newspaper articles, speeches or contracts arranged for..so that the looters in on the in will be financially benefited. 1942E. Paul Narrow St. xiv. 100 Early in 1926 Painlevé introduced a bill to reorganize the French army from thirty-two to twenty divisions. To this was attached a joker, increasing the term of universal compulsory military service from one year to eighteen months. 1947Harper's Mag. Nov. 441/1 The order also contains this crucial joker: The charges shall be stated as specifically and completely as..security conditions permit. 1953Congress. Rec. XCIX. App. A5292/2 A postal rate increase bill..had within it a ‘joker’ which seriously affected the nonprofit publications of organized labor in all parts of America.
Hence ˈjokeress, a female joker. † ˈjokery, jesting, raillery.
1740Apol. Life Mr. T. C., Comedian, When he spoke, that seriousness of joakery was discharged and a dry drolling levity took possession of him. 1858Doran Crt. Fools 66 She was the duly-appointed jokeress, if I may so speak, to the Duchess. 1970Daily Tel. 21 May 6/5, I could find very little to make me laugh..although it has all the ingredients of current jokery. |